Perez bemoans "total mess" as Red Bull electrical problems strike

Ewan Gale
Sunday 30 October 2022 13:30

Sergio Perez has bemoaned Red Bull electrical issues that left his Mexico City Grand Prix qualifying a "total mess".

The crowd at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez cheered on the home hero at every turn but Perez was hampered from the very start on Saturday afternoon.

A lack of pace in Q1 saw Perez retake to the track just to cement his position in the latter stages of qualifying whilst the Mexican sat P12 after the initial runs of the second session.

But the 32-year-old eventually battled to finish fourth quickest behind team-mate Max Verstappen and both Mercedes drivers, to leave him firmly in the mix for the race.

"It was a mess, a total mess," said Perez of his troubled qualifying hour.

"We had this electrical issue from the beginning. If I look back at my quali, we were nearly knocked out in Q1, nearly in Q2.

"I had no reference to progress, I had no lap times. I could not figure out where my brake balance was either.

"So it was a total mess but I think P4 is not the worst but certainly we could have been a lot higher than where we are."

Red Bull "confident" of fix

Perez was also forced to deal with a malfunctioning DRS activator in Q1, adding: "It was all to do with the electrical issue we had throughout quali.

"I had no reference with lap times and so on. It [the DRS] came back but the only thing that didn't was the electricals."

But allaying fears the issues could halt any attempts at becoming the first Mexican to secure a home grand prix win in F1, Perez insisted: "The team is confident they can sort it out."